What Is Moodle?

Moodle is a course management system (CMS). This means you can create an online classroom "home"--akin to a web page but interactive and also so much more--that can be accessible and viewable only by students enrolled in your class.

What Can I Do With Moodle?

1. Upload and Share Class Materials (handouts, lecture notes, ppts, syllabus, reading assignments, homework AND videos, images, mp3 files, and web-links)
2. Set up 24/7 Discussion Forums (All-class discussions, group project discussions, student- or teacher-moderated, peer-review of in-process work)
3. Create Quizzes (Short, online quizzes--including multiple choice and short-answer--that can be graded instantly)
4. Establish an Assignment Portal (Teacher posts assignments here, and students submit their assignments here)
5. Vary the Structure Your Course (By week, by topic, or by discussion)
6. Create a News Forum (Change in the assignment? Late-breaking communication? Important info? Can subscribe all students to News Forum and they'll automatically get an email notification of the news)
7. Find What You're Looking For with the Search and Browse Feature
8. Provide Synchronous Communication with Classroom Chat and Person-to-Person Instant Messaging
9. Create a Classroom Glossary
10. Develop Branching Lessons and Flash Card Activities
11. Explore blogging and wikis with your own "private" classroom blog and wiki. (Private meaning that only class members can view the blogs and wikis.)
12. Create Your Own Surveys and Online Gradebook

What Makes Moodle Special?

• Moodle is free and "open-source." This means that it is aligned with the academic values of freedom, peer-review, and knowledge-sharing (Cole&Foster, Using Moodle, 2nd Edition, 2008, p.4)
• Moodle is learning-centered. It is not built around tools but rather around pedagogy. Specifically, it is built upon the theories of social constructivism. "The focus isn't on delivering information; it's on sharing ideas and engaging in the construction of knowledge." (Cole&Foster, Using Moodle, 2nd Edition, 2008, p.5)
• It is an entirely web-based application. It is NOT a software application that you or your students need to download onto your hard drive in order to use it. All you need is the web address, a username, and a password.

Where is the Lovett Moodle?

Although we could choose to set up our Moodle directly on their site, we've chosen to install our own copy of Moodle on the Lovett server. Therefore, it has a unique URL (web address) that is: http://moodle.lovett.org/moodle

Who Can Access the Lovett Moodle?

Each faculty member, staff member, or student may create an account on the Lovett Moodle using his/her Lovett email address. Instructions for creating an account can be found on this screencast:
Create an Account on Moodle
Note: In this screencast, the context is specific to creating an account for each faculty member interested summer reading discussions.

Should I Moodle?

What are your Goals?

• Start with the end in mind. What are you trying to accomplish?
• Anytime you look at tools, consider them just that: "tools". Just like your toolbox at home, you want to select the right tool based on the PROBLEM YOU ARE TRYING TO SOLVE or THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE YOU WANT TO CREATE

If your Goal is:

• to become a paperless classroom, then Moodle is a good choice for classroom management of assignments, lessons, content
• to create an online learning environment that is collaborative, constructivist and confined to your enrolled students only, then Moodle is a good choice for a social constructivist pedagogy

FAQ

What if I already have my course materials accessible on a classroom web page?
Accessibility of course materials is only one benefit of Moodle. If you are happy with how that works for you, then stay put. However, it is not interactive and therefore it does not harness the full power of the evolving read-write web and it does not extend your classroom participation online. If any of the listed features of Moodle above is not a goal for your classroom management or not considered by you to be a valuable learning opportunity, then keep doing what you're doing.

What if I have a wiki for course materials, collaborative student workspace, etc?
Unlike a web page, a wiki is more easily managed, more dynamic, and participatory in nature. It has the option of being totally private space, protected space (public viewing, limited editors), or completely public (like Wikipedia--everyone is an editor). Unless you want to have a more integrated space for discussions, or are keen about the paperless classroom features that Moodle provides, then you are probably fine with a wiki.

What if I have a classroom blog and student blogs?
If the goal of your classroom blog and the student blogs is to develop individual voices, reflection, individual portfolios of writing, and a public forum, then you wouldn't want to give "up" the blogs for Moodle. However, these are really two different tools with two different purposes. Moodle is principally a classroom management tool/environment, and it also is intended to be private. A combination of student blogs and Moodle, or blogs and a classroom wiki, will address classroom management goals as well as the 21st century learning experiences that encourage evaluation, synthesis, creation, collaboration, and communication/development of public voice.

Learning Resources

Laura Deisley, ext 1348 for planning and classroom application considerations
Gina Dixon, ext 1305 for Moodle classroom setup

NEW! Video Tutorials! Short, Quick, To the Point
Moodle Textbook Download the free PDF (or check out the one in Laura Deisley's office)
Moodle User-Community Tutorials (Beta site--just launched Summer '08)
Moodle Tutorials Atomic Learning Tutorials (you'll need the Lovett username and password)
Moodle Blog Teacher blogs about working with Moodle
The Moodle Man Another teacher blogs about Moodle
Moodle "Ning" Social network of educators using Moodle
Global Classroom Blog
Search YouTube and TeacherTube for video tutorials (some very good)
2 Minute Video Tutorials

Lovett Moodle Training Materials

• Visit the Lovett Moodle Training Classroom. Feel free to explore the different modules. Username and password: Teacher, teacher. Turn editing on and then explore at your leisure. Try uploading files, adding quizzes, start a forum discussion. You can't "hurt anything"; we'll clean up the site from time to time, as well as add video resources.
• Intro to MOODLE: Setting Up Your Classroom
  

  Lovett Moodle Classroom Setup.doc
  

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